74 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — ^PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



a farm boy, "and since they have no need of keep- 

 ing up the roads through their property, it's more 

 difficult for us to get our produce out to market." 



These frustrations are leading many farmers to 

 restrict the acreage they plant. As one visits 

 about the community, he increasingly hears either 

 the threat to plant so para o gasto (only for home 

 use) or the affirmation that such a policy is now 

 actually being carried out. At the same time, the 

 restlessness produced by these perplexities and 

 frustrations is leading some of the farmers, and 

 more particularly tlieir sons, seriously to think of 

 abandoning, and in some cases actually to aban- 

 don, farming as an occupation. 



Unrest appears first and most intensely among 

 the young men, some of whom have learned of 

 the advantages of life in the outer world through 

 being called up for military service. "I've been 

 staying on here only because of my father," said 

 a young unmarried farmer. "When I was in the 

 army, I learned how to drive a truck and I could 

 earn my living much easier somewhere else. But 

 I don't want to leave my father alone." Similar 

 dissatisfactions are clear in the following remarks 

 of other young men : 



A young farmer, 23 years old, married : 



No one sets less for what he does than the farmer. He 

 works hard all day long under a blistering sun, chopping 

 weeds in hard dirt, and then he gets little for it in the 

 end. You never know how a crop will turn out. Some- 

 times the weather helps but often it hinders. And the 

 worst is that when you do raise a crop, you can't get 

 anything for it. When it's growing, prices are good, 

 but by the time it's ripe, the price has dropped. If the 

 price stays up, it's because the crops aren't any good. 

 For nearly a year now I've been thinking about some 

 other way of making a living. I'll do any kind of work 

 that will pay more. I'm used to farming, though, that's 

 what I know best. I like this place and I wouldn't think 

 of leaving it if I could make a living here. Really, I 

 just don't know what to do. 



A farm boy, 19 j^ears old : 



The farmer works the year around, planting, hoeing, 

 harvesting, and he makes very little. The price of every- 

 thing he has to buy is high and that of everything he has 

 to sell is low. But he has to sell In order to pay what he 

 owes for food the family has already eaten and for tools 

 he has had to buy. Sometimes, he can't put in as large 

 a crop as he would like because the storekeeper will 

 not give him more credit."" And the storekeeper is ri.sjht 

 because if the crop fails, the farmer can't pay and the 

 storekeeper can't afford to cut his own throat. Some- 



"" See Money, Credit, and Wages, p. 97. 



times the farmer doesn't even have enough money to buy 

 good seed. Or he doesn't plant a certain crop for fear 

 the ants will destroy it and he hasn't enough money to 

 buy the insecticide and a pump to put it on. Another 

 thing that makes farming difficult are the poor roads. A 

 farmer hears that the price of some crop is good and he 

 hurries to get a load off to market. By the time he can 

 arrange a truck and get it loaded, it begins to rain, and 

 there you are ! Every year in April, the men get to.sether 

 to fix the roads ; but after two or three good rains, they 

 are as bad as ever. 



A farm boy, 17 years old : 



The life of a farmer is more difBcult than any other 

 life. He works 10 hours a day in the hot sun, while the 

 mosquitoes suck his blood. Sometimes he sweats for 

 nothing because it doesn't rain when it should, or it rains 

 too much. He has no guarantee of any kind. People 

 in the city work a few hours a day and get vacations and 

 a much easier life. 



A farm boy, 17 years old : 



When the price of everything goes up, the factory work- 

 ers go out on strike, saying everything is high and they 

 want more money. But the farmer can't strike when the 

 prices of the things he sells go down. The poor farmer, 

 who suffers so much, just goes on suffering. 



A farm boy, 16 years old : 



The farmer provides food for the country. But the 

 country thinks only of the workers in the factories. 

 They ask for a raise and they get it. They work short 

 hours. But if the farmer wants to eat, he has to work 

 all the time and even then he lives in poverty. They have 

 everything nice in their houses ; there is nothing lacking. 

 And they can do whatever they like whenever they want 

 to. The only thing the Government seems to do for the 

 farmer is to put higher and higher taxes on him. 



A farm boy, 19 years old : 



A farmer works hard until he sees he isn't making any 

 headway. Then he gets discouraged and begins to look 

 for some other way to feed his family. When food is high, 

 the Government fixes the price but that's only for people 

 in the city. And it's really the farmer who pays. Those 

 men who buy our stuff still make a big profit, even with 

 fixed prices. They don't lose, believe me ! They just pay 

 the farmer less and go on making money. Can you blame 

 the farmer for leaving the farm? 



A farm boy, 18 years old : 



For farmers to work with any enthusiasm, they need a 

 guarantee from the Government, something to assure them 

 they won't suffer loss when the weather is bad ; they also 

 need credit, to furnish them what they need up until the 

 time of harvest. The Government should fix the price of 

 produce so that no one can buy for less tlian a fair price. 

 Only in this way can the farmers go on working. As it 

 is now, they have every reason to abandon the farm. 

 When the time comes that there is not enough food in the 

 city, maybe something will be done. 



